Ten Things
by Lucky Charmz
Summary: He's the only one who can complete her list. AU Oneshot. Trory.
1. Ten Things

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The idea for this came from my Myspace layout.

Rating: T- as always, suggestive content, language. The usual

Pairing: R/T

Summary: She won't tell him why she's here, and he won't question her. He only wants to make her happy. That's all he's ever wanted to do. Set after Rory's graduation from Yale. She never slept with Dean. Jess happened, but they never did anything. She dated Logan, but they never did anything, either. It's unrealistic, I know, but she's still a Mary.

* * *

"So, you and Dean never…"

"No." She shakes her head when he begins his question to her. She doesn't want to talk about how Dean had ended their relationship because of Jess and her unwillingness to give it up.

"Who else did you…"

"There was Jess." She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. She doesn't want to delve into this part of her life, but she knew it was bound to happen. She did, in fact, just show up on his doorstep at seven o'clock at night. He deserves the chance to ask questions. "And Logan Huntzberger."

He looks at her and studies her expression. He notes that now _she_ is the one who is unreadable. He thought he had that act down, but she seems to have beat him at his own game. "Huntzberger."

It is a statement, not a question. His own cousin had gotten Mary. But he never could. All because he was stupid enough to goof off with the two idiots of Chilton. He'd learned that they had gone back to Chilton for senior year. "What happened with him?"

"He asked me to marry him. I said no. I wouldn't sleep with him, he ended it." She is now facing him, and he sees tears in her eyes. But she does not cry. He wonders, briefly, why she won't cry. But he knows better than to question her about that. She's here, and it's more than he could ever ask for.

She never left his mind. Every year he would go back to Hartford for Christmas, and every year his disappointment would grow when he didn't see her. He wonders, briefly, if she did the same.

"I looked for you all the time. Summer, Christmas, spring break. It figures I dated your cousin, though. He knew where to find you."

"What happened?"

"I wrote a letter to you after he and I broke up. He found it. Told me where I could find you." Her explanation still leaves questions. Was she still friends with Logan? Were they still benefiting from anything?

"Don't worry. It's over now," she says, as if reading his thoughts. "He decided to move to California. I decided to take a year off before I found a job. This is where it got me."

She doesn't want him to ask the next question, but she knows it's inevitable.

"Why are you here?" He is now sitting closer to her, his hand is resting on hers. He is almost afraid to hear her answer. But he reasons with himself that there has to be a good explanation. Nothing bad would come of this.

Her eyes are more blue than he's ever seen, he notes. "Because it was always you. No matter how much I tried to fight it. It was always you."

He is unsure why these words have affected him so much, but he doesn't care to figure out the reason. He kisses her, and his hands travel up her arms and cradle her head. She moves her hands to his sides, untucking his shirt. She knows what will happen next.

It hurts. But he kisses away the stray tears that fall, and he takes it slow. He is careful with her. He treats her as though she could break any moment.

When they are laying together afterward, she wants to tell him that he doesn't have to worry, she is already broken.

But she doesn't. Instead, she stays with him for two weeks. And then one day, he wakes up and she is not there. He calls Logan, but Logan won't talk to him. Especially after what he tells Logan happened. He has no way to contact her.

And so he pushes Rory Gilmore out of his mind. Hoping that this time it will work. Because he has had her, and he tells himself that she was no more than a conquest. He'd finally gotten Mary.

The thoughts do not help him. It is nearly four months later when he gets a letter, in handwriting that he thinks may belong to her. But the handwriting is not hers. It is her mother's, and the letter breaks him.

He packs a suitcase and goes to Connecticut. He is afraid of what he will or won't see. He is afraid to face his past so quickly, but he is doing this for her.

Lorelai Gilmore greets him with a hug and a sad smile when he arrives in Stars Hollow. She takes him into the kitchen and sits him down. She talks for awhile of how much Rory talked about him. How much Rory enjoyed having him around.

She then takes out a folded piece of paper and hands it to him. He is half-expecting a letter, but that is not what he finds.

"Ten Things to do Before I Die" is the heading on this paper. And the number one thing is highlighted, checked off, and a heart is put next to it.

"Fall in love," he mouths. And next to those words is a name. And he feels his frown slowly turn to a sad smile. Because it is his name, and he listens to Lorelai.

It was leukemia, and they hadn't found it in time. She went to North Carolina immediately after she'd found out. Logan had helped her locate him. Logan had not, in fact, found a letter. She'd reached out to Logan. And Logan had not spoken to Tristin because Rory had asked him not to. She didn't want Tristin knowing she was sick.

The next few days are a blur for him. They are snapshots, and he thinks he may be going mad. Dean is civil towards him, Jess offers him a handshake. And Logan offers him an ear. He knows he will take his cousin up on his offer. They may not have had much in common before, but they now have one bond they will never be able to shake: they had both loved – and lost – Rory Gilmore.

He stays in Stars Hollow only a few days after the funeral. He is given a box, and is told that when he is ready, he should go through it. He is scared of what he will find.

It is a week later when he thinks he is strong enough to go through it. When he opens it, though, he knows it was a stupid idea. But he continues, because the piece of paper at the top begs him to. And even in death, he will not deny her.

He sees a picture of them, standing on the beach. It was taken when she'd come to find him. He holds the picture as he finds other things. The expected – PJ Harvey tickets, the script from their scene from Romeo and Juliet. And the unexpected – her original valedictory speech, where she mentions him as her hero, and letters she wrote to him over the years, telling him about her life.

He gets to the bottom of the box and finds other pictures from the two weeks she spent with him. He takes them all out, and sets them on a table. He will find frames for them and set them out. He does not cry, though. He knows she wouldn't want him doing that.

He takes one more look in the box and finds a final letter, written on paper from a legal pad he knows he has on his desk. He sighs, and picks it up. A smile forming as he reads.

_Dear Tristin,_

_If you're reading this, then I guess I'm gone. I'm sorry for hurting you – again. Please don't be angry, Tris. Don't be sad, either. You gave me everything I wanted. You had the love that I've longed for my entire life. Thank you for giving it to me. I promise you we will see each other again someday. Take care of yourself, and look for me in the sunsets._

_I love you._

_Mary_


	2. In the Sunset

Okay, I didn't plan to do this… but I decided that Tristin needed some closure of his own. It's short, but it kinda hit me and I needed to get it out.

**Title**: _In the Sunset_

**Rating**: See first part.

**Pairing**: No real pairing; mention of Rory/Tristin; implied Java Junkie.

* * *

"You're sure you want to do this?" 

He nods slowly, eyeing the woman in front of him. He and Lorelai had never met. They'd never really had a chance to get along. Rory had never given Lorelai the opportunity to figure out if she liked Tristin or not. But she decided she did. She liked him better than any guy Rory had ever mentioned.

He's started smoking, and he's lost a little bit of weight. Nothing too serious, though. She figures it's because he's started working more. She knows the feeling. She, too, has thrown herself into work now that her daughter is gone.

"Do you want someone to go with you?"

Tristin shakes his head at Luke's question. Luke has his arm protectively wrapped around Lorelai's waist as they stand out on the porch. The sun will be setting soon, and Tristin knows that he should get to the cemetery before he changes his mind.

Rory's funeral had been bittersweet, but he hadn't had a chance to come back. To see her grave stone. To make sure that she really is gone, and not coming back. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He's started growing it out, because he knows she would have liked it.

He tosses his cigarette into the grass and sighs. He feels their eyes on him and forces a smile. "I'll be back later."

They nod, and watch him walk down the driveway and to the right. He takes a deep breath and follows the path that he knows Lorelai and Luke have tread before. He takes a deep breath as he comes up to the gate, opening it with care. Scared of what may happen if he throws it open.

He makes his way to the back, where he sees an arrangement of daisies – courtesy of Logan Huntzberger, he presumes – resting atop the fresh grave. Clasping his hands together in front of his mouth, he sighs. He isn't sure why he's here, but he knows that this is something he must do if he is ever going to get over this.

He crouches down in front of the grave, the sun bright in his eyes. But he won't shield it from his view. She is there, he knows. Smiling at him and watching him as he says his final good-bye. Or it may be a hello. He isn't sure if he'll be back. Isn't sure if this is something he'll have to do repeatedly to remind himself that she really is gone.

"You didn't have to leave." He feels his voice crack when he first opens his mouth. "I wish you would have stayed."

He wants to tell her he would have married her. But he has a feeling she knows. He'd told her as much the second night she was there. She'd stiffened when he had even mentioned it. He'd brushed it off as jitters. He wished he would have pressed her for a reason. But that is the past, and he remembers a lesson from college, where his professor had told him that hindsight was 20/20. Looking back now, he realizes that every kiss and touch she gave him was her way of telling him good-bye.

"I wanted to tell you good-bye." He rests his fingers over her name. "But I'm glad you didn't let me. I would have been selfish and tried to make you stay. And that would have hurt you." He wills the lump in his throat to stay down. He will not let her down by crying.

"I put your picture on my desk at work. Everyone asks who you are." He pauses a moment, searching for the right words. "I tell them that your name is Mary, and you live upstate."

He smiles and remembers every time he called her Mary in high school. And he remembers calling her Mary even after what they had done. "You'll always be my Mary."

He looks up and watches the sunset, and for a minute, he sees blue eyes. He sees her smile. He feels her next to him. And he feels her soft lips on his cheek.

"I'll never love anyone like I loved you." He runs his hand through his hair. She loved doing that. She loved watching him do that. She had told him as much when she had come to see him.

He almost hears her voice. _Promise you'll love me forever?_

He smirks. He thinks for a second he's going crazy.

"I promise." And this time, he lets a tear fall. Because for once, he knows it will be okay if he does this. He knows she will understand. Because she always did.

He stands and runs a hand through his hair, looking down at the stone that held the name of the girl he would always love. "Good-bye… Mary."

He looks beyond the stone where the sun has set. And for just a moment, he sees her. And he knows that he'll not be back here. He doesn't need to be here to be close to her. She's not here. Not in this secluded spot. She's in his heart. Where she always has been.


End file.
